The Melbourne Tomato Festival 2016

The Melbourne Tomato Festival heads to the Edendale
Community Farm in Eltham this weekend, celebrating the
city's Italian food traditions with workshops, cooking
demonstrations and produce stalls.

"It's about bringing people together to celebrate past
traditions and important food traditions," says Elizabeth Grossi,
of the family-run Grossi restaurants. "We want to get people
involved with the production of food, not just the environmental
elements of that,but also the social
elements." The festival is the key event for the Melbournese
Movement, a community group headed up by the Grossi
family,that shines a light on the fusion
of Italian and Melbournian traditions, as well as the environmental
impact of food,the importance of local
production and how both play into community.

"Through migration Italians have brought a lot of new things to
Melbourne's culture, but Melbourne's culture has also given us a
lot of new things," Grossi says. Thus "Melbournese", a blend of
both cultures, was born. "It's passata-making day while the
football's playing on TV. It's a story about integration and the
intertwining of cultures to develop something that's new and
positive."

A highlight of the festival will be massive passata-makingsessions,where a half-tonne of tomatoes will be
used in sevenslots throughout the
day to create bottles of the sauce,a mainstay in Italian kitchens. "The Italian passata-making
day is a big tradition in Italian culture,because it's a day when the whole family comes together to
harvest the tomatoes they've grown and turn them into passata to
store for the winter months," says Grossi.

Other events include a beekeeping workshop from Melbourne City
Rooftop Honey; a pig-butchery event with Tammi Jonas of ethical pig
farm Jonai Farms & Meatsmiths; and mozzarella making with
That's Amore's Giorgio Linguanti. "You can also come along and
learn how to make your own pizza oven," says Grossi.

ChefsincludingGuy
Grossi,Colin Fassnidge and Scott Pickett
will take to the stage for cooking demonstrations, and Books for
Cooks, Prahan Market and Mount Zero Olives will set up shop along
with a collection of other local purveyors.

"Come along and get involved in some of the educational
stuff, or just come along and eat and drink," says Grossi.

The Melbourne Tomato Festival, 21 February, Edendale
Community Farm, Eltham, Victoria. Tickets are $25 for
adults,$10 for
children six to 13 years,and children five and
underenterfree of
charge. Tickets are available until sold out from
thefestival's website.